Geo-blocking in crypto gambling

Geo-blocking is when sites stop users with IP addresses from certain nations from using their sites. This is done due to gambling laws, or more accurately, due to the credible threat of legal action against a site by the authorities of some nations.

It is equally illegal to offer online gambling without a local license in Australia and Canada. If the site is located in Australia it might obey the Australian laws and geo-block users in Australia because there is a credible threat of legal action by Australian authorities.

However, the site will ignore the equivalent Canadian laws and allow users in Canada because there is no credible threat of legal action by Canadian authorities.

The US Department of Justice and the FBI have shown that wherever a site is located there is a credible threat of US authorities taking action against it. That’s why some sites operating outside the US geo-block users in the US.

Geo-blocking hurts users and operators

Geo-blocking has been common in government currency online gambling for a long time but in the early years of crypto gambling, it was happily absent. Crypto allowed consenting adults anywhere to use sites without being discriminated against or needing permission from their government, just like it should be!

However by 2017 most of the top crypto gambling sites used geo-blocking as detailed in the table below, and this is bound to continue.

The best and most reputable sites can still make good money while geo-blocking high-risk markets like the US. That makes these markets artificially less competitive because it leaves only lower quality and less reputable sites for US users to choose from. Laws that pretend to protect consumers in fact put them in more danger than they would be without those laws.

Who wants this and why?

When different laws are applied to different people on the internet, where we should be equal, the system of segregation that is nation-states comes into sharp focus. Sites don’t want to turn away users but offering online gambling in high-risk jurisdictions would put their business, finances and freedom at risk.

We have geo-blocking because we have gambling laws. These laws are made to protect government monopolies and government-licensed operators who provide revenue to the government, that is who wants these laws in place.

The other group of people who want these laws in place are those that believe gambling is immoral and that the government should use violence in order to stop people from doing things that they consider immoral. When presented by its advocates this stance uses the language of consumer protection.

The current situation

The above table shows the current state of geo-blocking in the crypto gambling industry. Sadly about 75% of sites geo-block users.

The biggest losers are the British who miss out on over 60% of services. This is thanks to the point of consumption tax.

Americans are next worse off missing out on 54% of crypto’s best gambling sites thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Sites located in Europe are more likely to geo-block than sites located outside of Europe.

The best way to get around geo-blocking is with crypto accepting VPNs. Legal authorities have never gone after individual online gamblers. They only ever go after the site operators and even make sure the busted sites pay out their user’s balances. As such you can feel legally comfortable crypto gambling from anywhere.

How BitEdge deals with this

We only show you sportsbooks that will allow you to bet with them. If a sportsbook geo-blocks the country you are in we do not show you information about that sportsbook. There are exceptions to this and in such cases, we state that users from your country should use a VPN.

You can see all information about all sportsbooks by turning off geo-targeting in the setting in the top right corner of this site.